Bloodforge

Posted: 04/24/12

Sharing its rather generic name with a magical hammer from Everquest, a Minecraft server devoted to dwarven-style architecture, and two different gothic metal bands, Climax Studios’ Bloodforge is an action combat game set in a dark fantasy world. Its high-contrast visual style, splashed with great gouts of bright-red, reads like an implicit promise of cathartic violence, but you may want to think twice before jumping into this bloodbath.

There are fleeting moments of glory, but every triumph in Bloodforge is counterbalanced by a stumbling failure. The skull-helmed, battle-scarred Crom certainly fits the part of a vengeful warrior, his enemies look downright hideous, and the basically competent combat hits some suitably savage notes. It’s unfortunate that stunted concepts, technical glitches, and a confused and touchy camera end up undermining the experience.

The game’s underlying systems just feel half-cooked. Looking to the gods for power, Crom finds little help. Magic can aid in the destruction of his enemies, but the foes you’d really love to smite are strangely unaffected by Crom’s sorcery. Clumsily named “shift attacks” also run on mystical mana, but these only slightly stronger-than-normal strikes are so unremarkable you may forget they’re even an option. Weapons differ in power and technique, but the most effective strategies hinge on repetition rather than finesse.

The ability to tap into a rage meter to amplify offense is something of a tradition for videogame barbarians, but here it’s botched both mechanically and thematically. Receiving a single hit brings Crom back to normal, baseline levels of bloodthirsty anger, making it smarter to bottle up the rage and cash it in to summarily slay frequently-appearing, large opponents that would otherwise absorb innumerable blows before allowing you to move on to the next set of bondage-beasts in yet another flat, fenced-in arena.

An unorthodox approach to mortality is interesting but flawed. Using restorative items is the only way to heal yourself, and with only so many scattered throughout each environment, Crom’s life feels finite. However, as if to make up for its stinginess, Bloodforge frequently marks your progress with checkpoints and allows you to continue as many times as you like, effectively spoiling the balance. You’ll either game the system by simply dying and retrying to save your health potions, or bring yourself to ruin by saving your progress after you’ve exhausted your supplies.

The feature in Bloodforge that lets you create and send online challenges to friends stands out as a great idea, but given all the other ways that the game falters, it’s not enough. Embodying the mighty Crom on the battlefield can be momentarily enjoyable, but Bloodforge can’t consistently deliver drama or fun, however much it’s willing to fight.

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